Moving Beyond This Question: is Tap Water Really Dangerous?

Today, an increasing number of businesses and homeowners are asking "Is tap water really dangerous?" Publication of evidence that our water supplies contain chlorine, lead, volatile organic chemicals, algae by-products and mercury has caused many people to question the wisdom of drinking tap water. Such people then often purchase bottled water. Over time, as society has witnessed a rise in the demand for bottled water, an even larger number of people have asked "Is tap water really dangerous?"

This article seeks to move beyond questions about the safety of tap water. This article focuses on what actions one might take, in order to counter the growing concerns about tap water. In order to address that issue, the writer of this article must introduce one further question. This is that question: Why does some water taste better than others?

Foul tasting water generally contains one or more man-made chemicals. Good tasting water contains important minerals, such as calcium, potassium and manganese. Tasteless water lacks both dangerous chemicals and also healthful minerals. Tasteless water should not be viewed as the safest possible type of drinking water.

So how can a homeowner provide his or her family with the safest possible type of drinking water? Can water from a well be viewed as safe? Before making that assumption, a homeowner should consider this fact: Roughly 50% of the water piped into American homes comes from ground water.

When someone draws water from a well, they bring to the surface water that had begun to make its way to a municipal water source. That water often contains chemicals used by farmers. Some of the pesticides used by farmers contain arsenic. People who drink unfiltered well water pour arsenic into their system.

A home that relies on water from a well usually depends on a functioning septic system. Each time that that septic system undergoes a cleaning some volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) make their way into the ground water. That ground water then carries the VOCs to the point where humans draw water from a well. Unfiltered well water contains harmful VOCs.

When a homeowner living in a rural area asks, "Is tap water really dangerous?" then that homeowner should be told "yes." What about a homeowner in an urban setting? Should he or she have greater assurance about the safety of water from the tap? Unfortunately the answer is "no." About 70% of the world's industrial wastes, wastes that pour out of factories, get washed into streams and rivers. Those streams and rives often feed a municipal water supply.

Urban water treatment plants do not have the ability to eliminate all of the dangerous chemicals in the water. Thus when an urban dweller asks "Is tap water really dangerous?" he or she should get the same answer as the resident of a rural area. Unfiltered tap water is dangerous.

That does not mean that no homeowner can provide his or her family with safe drinking water. If a homeowner introduces an activated carbon filter into the home water system, then that homeowner can put aside worries about the safety of the tap water. When combined with ion exchange and micron filtration, activated carbon filters can bring the contaminants in tap water down, down to an acceptable level.

By lowering the level of contaminants in the tap water, a homeowner has earned the right to sleep well each night. That homeowner knows that the guests and residents who drink the home's filtered water will enjoy safe and clean liquid refreshment.